


Operation: Venjix Schmenjix

by TeaBoss



Category: Power Rangers R.P.M.
Genre: Episode Style, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-27
Updated: 2017-01-27
Packaged: 2018-09-20 04:16:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,609
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9475289
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TeaBoss/pseuds/TeaBoss
Summary: Venjix plans on sending an attack bot, different than any the Rangers have fought before. Gem, Gemma, and Ziggy have a plan. They think it's a pretty good plan.





	

“And just where are you going?”

“Oh you know, out!”

Everyone watched as Ziggy hopped into his scooter, giving a salute to the primary-colored trio around the pool table as he buckled on his helmet. He was gone before anyone could say anything, and it left them giving each other confused looks.

That was, until Gem and Gemma started to sneak out of the lab.

“And just where do you think you two are going?”

“…Oh you know!” “Out!”

They took off in a sprint, and Scott lifted a hand.

“All in favor of asking Doctor K what that was about, say I.”

“I.” “Aye!”

“I have some idea what they’re doing.”

Doctor K walked out of the lab, tablet in hand. “They requested I not disclose anything until they give me the ‘go ahead’ over communications, but that’s foolish.” She turned the tablet over to show them a blueprint. “They’ve assured me that it’s not any kind of explosive, but their explanation leaves much to be desired.”

“It looks like some kind of tower, but what’s that thing there?”

“A chip, maybe?”

“The data here implies it’d be a long-range tracking system, far longer than Corinth’s diameter. And this here” The doctor pointed to a separate schematic. “appears to be completely unrelated to both of those things.” She paused, looking around the Garage. “Where are Ranger Series Black and Green?”

“Dillon went for a walk earlier today.”

“And Ziggy said he was going out, right before Gem and Gemma ran off.”

“Oh dear.”

Doctor K hurried back into the lab to her computer, followed by the three rangers. She typed quickly, and their morpher numbers appeared on the screen. “It appears the four of them are together, near the maintenance tunnel in Sector 4.” The team leader shook his head.

“I don’t know what they’re working on but I’m going to find out.”

~~~

“Are you guys” “ready for this!”

The black and green rangers nodded in unison, and the silver ranger handed Ziggy a single small green earring. He replaced his own with it while the other three talked.

“You guys are sure that thing works, right?”

“Of course” “it works!” “We tested it” “yesterday!” “We can find you” “and we can talk to each other with it!” “Don’t forget this!”  
Gem handed Dillon what looked like a USB chip. He handed it off to Ziggy, who in turn pocketed it securely in his jacket. The twins took out a large case, setting it up on the big crate beside them. Opening it revealed a computer screen, and a bunch of buttons and twisty-bobs that neither Dillon or Ziggy knew what they were. But that wasn’t the part of the plan they needed to worry about.

“All you need to worry about” “is finding some Grinders!” “And getting to Venjix’s Palace” “in one piece.” “After that just stick the chip in one of their computers” “and we’ll take care of the rest!”

“…Right. Got it.”

“Let’s go.”

Dillon and Ziggy exited the room into the tunnel, and started walking. The black ranger put a hand on Ziggy’s shoulder. “You’ve got this. There’s nothing to worry about.”

“Oh yeah, nothing except maybe getting lost. Or vaporized. Or lost _then_ vaporized. But no, I’ve totally got this.” The snark comment earned him a hard pat on the back as they reached the hatch.

“You’re you, you can do this.”

Dillon opened the hatch, and held out his hand. The green ranger took a deep breath, before removing his morpher and handing it over.

“Well, wish me luck.”

“Go get ‘em, Zigmeister.”

~~~

“You don’t think they’re doing anything dangerous, do you?”

“I mean it’s Gem and Gemma. Who knows what they could be doing.”

“Aye, he’s got a point.”

“And what about Ziggy and Dillon? How’d they get roped into this?”

“We’ll ask when we find them.”

“Speaking of, look! There’s the scooter.”

The blue and red cars came to a halt, and they exited the vehicles to walk over and look at the scooter propped up in a nearby alley. Doctor K’s voice could be heard from the screen they brought.

“Their morpher signals are nearby, check the maintenance tunnel.”

“On it.”

The trio found the door to be unlocked, and went right in. Immediately, they heard the familiar voices of the twins and Dillon.

“Remember the plan” “and you’ll be just fine!”

“I’ll come get you if nothing happens soon.”

“And then we can” “try again later!”

“Try what again later?”

The gold, silver, and black trio looked from the electronics box to the doorway, where the other half of the team stood with their arms crossed and judging look on their faces. Summer looked around the room.

“Where’s Ziggy?”

Just then, said ranger’s voice was heard over the box’s speaker, and everyone’s attention turned to it.

: “I guess there’s not going to be a later!” :

“Did you find something?”

“More like something found me.”

~~~

They were everywhere, and they found him easy enough. So now Ziggy was on his way to the evil robot headquarters itself, Venjix’s Palace. It was a good thing that the minions were too dumb to notice his whispering, or the whispering of his team, in the back of the transport vehicle.

: “Ziggy, we’re coming to get you—” :

: “No, bad idea. Going for him now will only get him into even more trouble.” :

: “Dillon is right, but that doesn’t mean we can’t—” :

: “Don’t worry guys!” “If our plan works, he’ll be” “Just fine!” :

: “An’ just what is yer plan?” :

“I don’t mean to interrupt your arguing loudly in my ear, but uh. The truck stopped and I think it’s going to get noticed pretty quickly.”

At that, the microphone at the other end of the line was switched off, and Ziggy took a deep breath. Remain calm, you’ve got this. He was led out of the truck and came face-to-face with the front of the Palace. There wasn’t any time to stare, though, because he was quickly escorted inside.

Soon enough he was led down a corridor, into what looked like the main control room. At least, that was his guess. You know, the giant metal cylinder in the middle with the red glowing eye, the grinders posing to the left and the Generals Shifter and Crunch to the right. Just a hunch.

**“Aha! The Grinders I sent out have returned, and they’ve caught a Ranger!”**

_“Ooh, what shall we do? Turn him into scrap metal?! Or perhaps dissect him?”_

“Uh.” Ziggy raised one cuffed hand. “Can I say no to both of those?”

_**: “QUIET! General Crunch, bring the Ranger to a cell. We shall decide what to do after the attack bot infiltrates the city.” :**_

_“Yes Lord Venjix!”_

~~~

: “This is beyond dangerous! Do you guys have any idea the extent of the situation you’ve made?” :

“Not only are we down one ranger, but they’re in the middle of Venjix’s Palace without a morpher!”

“And it’s Ziggy! Not to be mean, but you’ve stuck the man in a bad situation.”

“And all for what?”

The primary-colored trio, including Doctor K on the screen, were cross to say the least. 

“But Ziggy was the one” “who suggested it in the first place!” “After we found out about Venjix’s next plan of attack” “he and Dillon said we needed to strike first” “but be super sneaky about it!” “Because they knew you’d get mad.” All eyes turned to Dillon, who stood there with his arms crossed.

“Venjix is planning on sending an attack bot that, when supersized, will over-grow and destroy the shield so—”

“So we need to make it go” “Boom!” “Sploosh!” “Bwaaa!” “First!”

“And Ziggy is more capable than you think.”

: “Regardless of Ranger Green’s capabilities, opinion based or not, there is nothing we can do that won’t put him at risk—if he’s not in trouble already.” :

“Well that’s why” “we’re trying to listen!” “So if he does get in trouble” “we can go get him right away.”

“So let’s be quiet, and listen.”

: “I’m afraid not. It appears that Venjix sent Grinders into the city, along with the aforementioned attack bot. Rangers, you’ll need to stop it before it causes damage to the city. Gem and Gemma will stay here.” :

“Don’t worry.” “We’ve got this handled!”

“Alright, come on guys.”

~~~

“What kind of name is Crunch, anyway? Did you get that from the cereal?”

_“Will you be quiet!”_

Ziggy raised his cuffed hands, going quiet. That was, until they reached the cell. As he was unceremoniously shoved into the small room, it was time for his plan.

“Uh, hold on. I think these things came loose.”

_“What!!”_

As the robot came over to investigate the supposedly loose wood cuffs, Ziggy spun right around and hit them across the face with the cuffs that he definitely got out of as soon as he was in the cell. While they recovered from the blow, he ran out of the room and pushed random buttons until the door closed with a lock. Victoriously he fixed his jacket collar and dusted his shoulders off.

“Piece of cake.”

: “Hey Ziggy, we think its about time” “you head to the nearest computer!” :

“Right!” There was a pause, and he looked down the ends of the hallway. “Which way would that be, exactly?”

: “Go left!” “Then right!” “Then take another right.” “Then left again, and you should” “end up in a small room with a computer console in the middle of it!” :

“Left, right, right, left. Got it!”

As fast as his feet could carry him, he followed the twins’ directions. A left, watching out for patrolling robot baddies, one right, another right. Turning the final left and going down a short corridor, he did in fact reach a door. One that was locked. Figures.

“Okay…Let’s see here.”

Cautiously, he pressed an ear against the door and listened closely. It sounded like one, maybe two Grinders were in the room. Which meant he could _probably_ handle them in a fight, if it came to it. But a stealth mission like this called for Mister Finesse.

All it took was a knock on the door—followed by Ziggy hiding, crouched in the corner—to get the Grinders to walk right out to investigate the disturbance. He took a marble out of his pocket, chucking it down the corridor while they were looking away. It clanged against the wall, disappearing down the other hallway. Ah, angles. The two robot minions followed it, and Ziggy easily snuck into the open door. With no bad guys in sight, he hurried down the gangway to reach the console.

“I’m in. So what do I do now?”

: “The chip we gave you” “should be able to plug into the computer” “Look for a match.” :

“Okay…” He took out said chip, looking for a spot to plug it in. “Not here, not there…Aha!” He stuck the USB into the console, and a pop up appeared on the screen, with text moving too fast for the green ranger to see. 

: “Great job Ziggy!” “We’ll take it from here!” :

“Oh good, because I definitely can’t read any of this.”

What looked like a live feed of the fight going on between Venjix’s attack bot and the other Rangers popped up beside the other pop up. They had been fighting defensively, trying to keep it from supersizing no doubt, and it wasn’t looking too good. He could faintly hear the twins’ rapid typing, tapping, and twisting the black box from the earring communicator, and kept quiet until they spoke. 

: “Ready…set…” “Boom time!” :

Suddenly, the robot they had been fighting started to grow—only to shrink. Shrink, and then explode in a burst of smoke and sparks. Ziggy cheered, fairly loudly, and the other rangers’ voices could be heard by Ziggy from Gem and Gemma’s morphers.

: _“Great work guys!” :_

_: “Yeah, but don’t think you aren’t still in trouble!”_ :  
Any reply the twins made was lost to Ziggy, because at that moment the doors to the room re-opened. It wasn’t Grinders that entered, but a General. A General, with a long sniper-styled blaster casually aimed right at him.

“Well, well, well. What have we here?” 

His first response was to cover the screen with his hand and hoped that everything on it would close—if the twins hadn’t done it already—as he turned to face Kilobyte with one hand raised.

“Oh, just looking for a map. You know, maybe having some on the walls here and there in this place would be nice. Make it easy to get out.”

“Aren’t you the clever one. But I’m afraid you won’t be leaving anytime soon.”  The robot waved the blaster slightly.  “Now, move.” 

“Right, right.” Ziggy raised his other hand, sneaking a peek at the now-blank screen and sighing inwardly in relief. A threatening click of the blaster ushered him away from the console, but he remained calm as the robot walked up to him and took a look at the screen suspiciously. “I guess I’ll be going back to my cell, then?” He asked, turning Kilobyte’s attention away from possibly spotting the hacking device.

“Oh, no. Lord Venjix has something else in mind for you.” 

~~~

The group hurried into the maintenance tunnel room, surrounding the black box as the twins were listening in on the conversation being had.

: “You know, I think its common villain courtesy to say evil plans before—ow, ow—doing them!” :

:  “You’ll find out soon enough, Ranger. Now don’t go anywhere.” :

: “Yeah, yeah. Funny.” :

There was a pause, and the faint sound of footsteps, and a door opening then closing could be heard before Ziggy spoke again.

: “Okay. Now would be a great time for a plan.” : 

“Ziggy, what’s your situation?”

: “Oh, just strapped to a dentist chair. Waiting to find out if I’m going to be turned inside out or something.” :

“We’re going to get you out of there. Hang tight.”

: “It’s not like I’m going anywhere!” :

The twins flicked off the microphone, and looked up at the other rangers.

“We planned on having Dillon go” “and get Ziggy, after we beat the attack bot!”

“I’m a hybrid, it’ll be harder for their sensors to detect me coming.”

The primary colored trio grabbed Doctor K’s screen and stepped away to talk, being the only ones _not_ going to be in trouble after this. 

“This is way too dangerous.”

“Aye, she’s got a point. But if we dunnae do anything, we could lose Ziggy.”

: “While I’m sure Gem and Gemma have thought this through, it’s your call as team leader, Scott.” :

“We can’t just—”

The sound of the hatch down the tunnel opening and closing caught their attention, and they looked back to find Dillon gone, and the twins staring at them. It was Summer who spoke first, breaking the silence.

“Did you find out something?”

“We think that” “it’s possibly they’re going to” “turn Ziggy into a hybrid!”

~~~

Ready, set, and…nope, no dice. Dang, these things were tight. No amount of wriggling could get him free and to be honest, the tinfoil was really making his legs burn. But he couldn’t panic, because then he’d be _really_ screwed. Come on Ziggy, think. 

It was the familiar whistling of a certain infiltration bot that stopped his train of thought, and her arrival was soon followed by a Grinder pulling along an IV on a pole. At the same time, an idea popped into his head.

“Ranger Green.” 

“Tenaya! Fancy meeting you here. Looking sharp as ever! You know, I’m not a fan of needles so I think I’m going to pass on—ow, ow!” The Grinder pulled up his jacket sleeve to stick him with the needle, and he could confirm that robots should never be any sort of doctor or nurse. It really hurt!

“You don’t have much of a choice. Once that injection is done, you’ll be ready to receive the Venjix Virus and join our ranks.”

“Woah, wait. If this isn’t the virus in my arm, then what is it?” 

“Specially made nanotechnology cells, to help speed up the virus. Master Venjix—”

“Before you start, I have an idea that’ll benefit us both.” Here goes nothing. “How about…you let me go.” That caused a single laugh to come from Tenaya, who placed one hand on her hip and gave him a stare.

“And just why would I do that?”

“Well, think about it. If I become a Venjix agent, what would happen to you? I mean, I’m already a Power Ranger! I’d totally be more of an asset than you, and you don’t strike me as the kind of robot who’d accept being turned into scrap metal after being deemed obsolete, you know?” He held his breath as he watched the cogwheels turn in Tenaya’s head.

After a finger snap and shout, the Grinder exited the room, leaving the two alone. Tenaya stood beside the chair, with her hands behind her back.

“What makes you think you’d be replacing me? I am Tenaya, Generation Seven and—”

“See, that’s the thing! Generation seven is kind of out of date now, right? Compared to, what? Thirteen? I’d be getting the _new_ new stuff. I could totally kick your butt. Think about it.” Before Tenaya could reply, the doors opened and General Crunch walked in—along with a Grinder that had a different IV pack in hand. 

Ziggy stared at the pack, then at Tenaya—who wasn’t looking at him. He wasn’t actually sure what she was doing until he noticed her lack of right hand as she walked out of the room. At that same moment, he heard the clinking of the straps’ locks as they were being undone, and he did the only thing he could do to make enough noise to cover it. He sneezed, loudly, and then started talking.

“Oh wow! Hey, you know what I think I’m allergic to that—whatever it is! You guys don’t keep epipens around here, do you? I’m starting to feel puffy!” Almost there.

_“I’m not falling for your tricks again! Grinder, prep the IV!”_

“I’m serious! I could die, and—Wait, wait! Who knows what sort of—” He stopped himself as soon as the last strap was undone, and he ripped the IV out of his arm and leapt up—and then stumbled. Woah, he wasn’t expecting that. Focus Ziggy, focus! 

The Grinder went for him, but all it took was one arm grab and spin to send it right at the General. Dashing as fast as he could out of the room, he went down a few corridors before stopping to take a breath. He held the previously-IV’d arm to his chest, and tapped his finger against the earring. “If you guys are there, I could really use directions to, oh I don’t know, a garage? Do robots have garages?” 

: “Ziggy, thank goodness” “you’re okay!” :

: “Don’t worry about finding a garage, Dillon is on his way to get you.” :

“Okay, alright. So which way is out?”

: “Take a right, left, another left and then one right.” “There will be a hatch you can get out through, hurry!” :

“Got it.”

Right, left, one right—no, that’s not right. Right, left, left, right. Right, left, left, and right! The hatch was in clear sight, and not a moment too soon. Grinders started down the hallway, just as he snuck into the vent. He felt dizzy but he pushed forward to his escape.

That escape ended with Ziggy falling out of a grate and landing outside in the sandy wasteland. That was going to leave a mark later. No time to lose, though. He stood up, wobbling slightly. In the distance, he saw the familiar black car of Dillon’s driving toward him. As soon as they were in range, he flung himself through the backseat window.

“Are you alright?!” 

“Still alive!”

The black ranger wasted no time in getting them the heck out of there.

~~~

“What the lot of you did was beyond irresponsible!”

“We did it to protect the city, and we succeeded. I don’t see the problem.”

“The problem is that the four of you went behind our backs, not to mention the fact that one of our own nearly became one of Venjix’s agents because of your scheme, and Ranger Green is still in recovery!”

Their attention turned to Ziggy, who was asleep out on the couch in the Garage. “While he wasn’t infected with the virus, the nanocells in his system took quite a toll on him before we were able to drain them, and with the blood loss he experienced it will be a while before he’s back in shape to fight. I hope this taught you all a valuable lesson on why unsanctioned missions are not safe.”

“We got it Doctor K!” “Won’t happen again!”

The group dispersed, heading out of the lab just as Ziggy stirred. He blinked a few times, looking around before focusing on the rest of the rangers.

“…I’m not part robot, am I?”

“No, ye aren’t.”

“Oh, good. Did we win?”

“If by win you mean is the bot defeated, then yeah we won. You don’t remember?”

“Not really, but hey if we won then that’s great! I knew it was a good idea.”

“Yeah, about that—”

The alarms went off, and Doctor K’s voice rang out.

“Rangers, theres been a breach by the park. Head over there now.”

Just as Ziggy was about to stand up, Dillon’s hand pushed down on his shoulder.

“Nope. You get to stay here and get an earful, now that you’re awake.”

“Oh, right—Wait, what?”

**Author's Note:**

> This took a while to write, but I'd say I'm pretty proud of it. I hope you enjoyed reading it!


End file.
